Foster Care: Sterilization 12"

$12.50

It’s been almost four years since New York’s Foster Care put out their debut album "Bad Vibe City "and we’ve been anxiously awaiting a follow up. Well the wait is finally over. Foster Care is back with another banger of an LP and it’s gonna knock you out. In their downtime the guys did more than terrorize the neighborhood bars. They’ve been sharpening their knives and waiting for the right time to pounce. Well apparently that time is now and this record is razor sharp and heading straight for your throat. Every bit as punchy as the first but more dialed in. The hooks are bigger, the guitars are meaner, and Chris Teenager sounds as vicious as ever. 24 minutes fist pumping, head rattling, negative punk perfection for 2016. 100% TOTAL PUNK!

Our take: I can't remember who first told me about Foster Care, but I remember vividly that I was in New York, driving a band on tour. The band were doing touristy things in Manhattan and I had the van in Brooklyn essentially killing time, so I decided to check out this Foster Care band that I had just heard about. It almost seems like a dream now, probably because it was so long ago; a quick check of Discogs tells me that the band's first 12" came out way back in 2012, and I'm pretty sure that hadn't come out yet when I first checked out this band. I don't relate that little story just to say "look at me, I hear about all the cool bands before anyone else," but rather to emphasize the pace at which Foster Care seem to move. That first 12" was four years ago, and at some point in the interim (I'm guessing like two years ago?) they did a short tour where they played Raleigh with Pampers. I think they might have had a cassette of new material at that show, but they didn't seem in any rush to get their name out there or to "move forward" in the way that many bands want to. That attitude makes sense when you hear the band's sound, because while they have a lot in common with a lot of contemporary punk bands, they also have one foot planted firmly in the garage-punk scene of the early oughts, the one dominated by the Carbonas' pop-inflected sneer. Foster Care give us an updated version of that sound for sure, flirting with the near-hardcore tempos and less polished, more nihilistic vibe that characterizes much of the rest of the Total Punk roster. That said, this feels a little more considered and less tossed-off than many Total Punk releases, which makes sense as it's been gestating (in some sense, at least) for damn near half a decade. Sometimes bands that fall in between sounds like that can end up alienating both potential audiences, but Foster Care are one that bridges the gap, and whether you pledge your allegiance to Douchemaster and Rob's House or Total Punk and the Spotted Race (or Angry Samoans or the most biting, aggressive moments of 90s Queers or Screeching Weasel, for that matter), this will undoubtedly spend as time on your stereo as it has on the shop turntable at Sorry State.